Scripture Reading(s)
Luke 11:1-13
11:1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
11:2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
11:3 Give us each day our daily bread.
11:4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”
11:5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread;
11:6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’
11:7 And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’
11:8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
11:9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.
11:10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
11:11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?
11:12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?
11:13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Reflections
Prayer can often time be a challenging task. It takes effort for us to set aside any and all distractions and come to God with a heart that is ready to submit our struggles, fears, happiness and hopes. However, I have learned and from what we read here, God is eager to grant us good things. All we have to do is simply seek Him with our whole hearts.
This passage teaches us that God wants to hear us cry out to Him because He loves us and does not want for us to carry our burdens. As a loving Father, He longs to remove our anxiety with peace, sadness with joy and show us that He cares so deeply about our everyday lives.
Prayer is an act of faith and surrender to God. To pray to Him is to show that you fully trust Him with your needs and trust that He will answer you in a way that will give you more then you could ask and Glorify Him.
God longs for us to come to Him with our needs and requests. He eagerly awaits for us to pour out our hearts to Him as a means of showing that we trust Him. He wants us to recognize that only He can answer our requests and meet us at the point of our deepest needs.
The most amazing part of prayer is found in verse 13. I love how Christ paints a picture of us as humans, who are prone to do evil, will never turn and bring harm to our child. God, who is full of good and free of sin, will indeed bring us good and bless in ways that we can never imagine.
Jesus’ advice on prayer is more than just what to pray but also how to pray. It is interesting that Jesus tells a parable about a guy nagging his neighbor to illustrate how we should seek the Father. But hat should be read in light of what Jesus ends with:
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
When we pray God is not like use humans. He does not have an attention span issue. He does not listen out of annoyance. He does not listen merely to appease. He does not listen just to end the conversation. God listens intently to your pray. He loves us. We are His children. If even us earthly fathers know how to treat our children then how much more will the infinite God know how to treat His children.
Pray with ceasing and pray with confidence.
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